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Just Another Saturday

Just another Saturday, in a sleepy town,

a little town called Omagh in the County of Tyrone.

Where the Drumragh meets Camowen, to form the river Strule,

where excited kids and parents, shop for another year at school.


A carnival is in full swing, up in market square,

the sun is high in the sky, the laughs of children fill the air

Meanwhile at the ‘Little Shrubbery’ the red Vauxhall Cavalier.

leaves on its final journey packed with 500 pounds of fear.


The call Martha Pope drives fear into their hearts,

it was supposed to the courthouse and not the draper’s shop.

3 telephoned warnings give the wrong destination,

While men, women and children run in all directions.


Suddenly at ten past three an unearthly blast rings out,

thick dust and acrid smoke as the sun is blotted out.

The darkness clears to reveal a scene of utter devastation,

the dead and dying strewn across Market Street in mass assignation.


First an eerie silence then the screams and the tears,

a river of blood runs down the road, it’s the sum of all fears.

Bodies and limbs litter the street,

As people seek loved ones, in the rubble beneath.


29 souls were lost on that day,

including 5 boys, 4 girls and twins on the way.

A Spanish student and tutor on an exchange visit,

3 generations of one family gone in an instant.


All Indiscriminate victims, from both divides

Catholic or Protestant death doesn’t take sides,

The Good Friday agreement was supposed to bring peace,

Yet this single worst tragedy occurred 4 months after this.....




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5 Comments


Alison Blevins
Alison Blevins
Jul 30, 2023

Thank you for sharing this Dawson, an extremely moving and emotive piece.

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Alice Carroll
Alice Carroll
Jul 27, 2023

A well-written poem about a tragic event. Was the year 1998?

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Dawson Stafford
Dawson Stafford
Jul 27, 2023
Replying to

Yes August 15th 1998

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Stephen Kingsnorth
Stephen Kingsnorth
Jul 26, 2023

We remember it well, with great sadness.

Living and working in Warrington at the time (where 2 young boys were killed by an IRA bomb), and married to a Ballymena girl, I visited Ulster (and the Republic) numerous times working with those seeking to build peace.

Too many memories of atrocities (I spoke at the memorial following the Shankill bomb), but also many signs of hope from ordinary people wanting an end to The Troubles - I knew Gordon Wilson of Enniskillen (whose daughter died there in the Remembrance Day bombing), and attended his funeral.

I visited Omagh several times, with youth groups from Warrington meeting cross-community groups in N.I. who then visited the Warrington Peace Centre.

Warrington-born Terry Waite…

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Dawson Stafford
Dawson Stafford
Jul 26, 2023
Replying to

Stephen, All names we are familiar with unfortunately through atrocities and grief . At least my boys were brought up in a very different era. Thank God

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